Michigan Stadium to host HS football for the first time ever

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

Michigan Stadium will host 7 HS football games from August 25-27.

It's being called Battle of the Big House.

Warning: Freep link.

Games-

  • Brighton vs Detroit East English Village
  • Walled Lake Western vs Farmington
  • Kalamazoo Central vs St. Joseph
  • Clarkston vs Lapeer
  • Novi Detroit Catholic Central vs Sterling Heights Stevenson
  • East Kentwood vs Farmington Hills Harrison
  • Pioneer vs Muskegon

Farnn

May 26th, 2016 at 10:36 PM ^

Really cool idea, kids will remember the experience for life.  Plus, it doesn't cost Michigan much and it leads to a lot of goodwill among local highschools and communities.  This would have been impossible under Brandon since he would have tried to squeeze as much money as possible to rent the Big House.

And TomVH says more games are likely to come.

Tater

May 27th, 2016 at 12:05 AM ^

When EL was "awarded" the MHSAA basketball finals and semis, it made it a lot easier for Sparty to recruit instate and more difficult for Michigan.  When it used to be fair, Sparty got the semis and Michigan got the finals.  Great players got to play in both venues.  

Michigan needs to host a tournament like that for basketball at Crisler.   Since it is their place, they could cherry-pick schools with top recruits.I don't know if it would help, but it can't hurt.

MGoChippewa

May 27th, 2016 at 8:46 AM ^

The MLive article I just read on the topic said the 14 schools are coming together to foot the $60k usage fee being charged by UM to use The Big House.  $10 per ticket to get in should cover that cost and then some, as I have to imagine that the 7 games combined will bring in way more than 6000 people.

GoBluePhil

May 26th, 2016 at 10:42 PM ^

The MHSAA should also rotate the Boys Basketball Finals between MSU facility and Crisler. Izzo gets an unfair recruiting advantage with all the kids playing in the semi and finals.

1VaBlue1

May 26th, 2016 at 11:33 PM ^

The boys bball championships used to be at Crisler.  That changed when Breslin was built - it was newer and far more shiny than Crisler at the time.  Back in the 80's Cazzi's House was on the low end of Big Ten facilities and in bad need of renovation.  That came well after the Championship games were moved to Breslin, though.

BlueinLansing

May 27th, 2016 at 1:25 AM ^

Then The Palace hosted for four years, Breslin hosted its first semi's and finals weekend in 1994.  Breslin hosted some of the semi-final games but not the finals for the first couple years it was open.

 

The MHSAA home office was on Trowbridge Rd about two blocks away, it moved the finals to EL (mostly) for convenience and its central location.  The MHSAA offices are still only a couple miles further North in EL.

BlueinLansing

May 27th, 2016 at 1:18 AM ^

as anyone but the Breslin is the perfect location for the MHSAA finals being centrally located in the state and can handle those rare games that everyone wants to see.  I'd much rather have them in EL than AA.

 

The only thing I wish would happen is a separate floor without the Spartan logos for the MHSAA.

NittanyFan

May 27th, 2016 at 9:04 AM ^

The MHSAA conducts none of their state Championships in Ann Arbor, which makes one wonder about that question.  

You aren't going to get something you don't pursue.  

Lansing/MSU hosts a bunch of MHSAA Championships beyond basketball (baseball, softball, girls soccer).  Does seem like a concerted effort on their part.  The Lansing chamber of commerce would support it: it fills hotel rooms.

chatster

May 27th, 2016 at 12:29 PM ^

And some other notable alumni of Paramus High School include:

LSAClassOf2000

May 26th, 2016 at 10:54 PM ^

This is a pretty cool idea and these actually are some pretty good matchups. I can only imagine how those kids will feel getting to play one of their games on Michigan Stadium's field - they'll remember that one for a long time, win or lose, I would think. As someone mentioned, this seems like it will build some great goodwill with in-state programs, which would be an added bonus. 

I wonder if they'll open these to the general public - I actually haven't seen a high school game since I was in high school.

jdizzle

May 26th, 2016 at 11:37 PM ^

I'd assume they'll definitely be open to the general public ... Probably be like any HS game, if you buy a ticket you can go in. I wonder if they'll sell them as a package or individually tho. I could see the host HS's trying to profit off an all weekend package

Michigan Eaglet

May 26th, 2016 at 10:59 PM ^

Just a small correction, Farmington Hills isn't a high school. There's North Farmington, Farmington and Harrison in the Farmington/Farmington Hills area. WLW is playing Farmington.

BlueWing

May 27th, 2016 at 6:15 AM ^

I'm not saying those teams wouldn't bring in a lot of fans, but they wouldn't have as big of a following as many, many other schools. We don't want to have this event flop when the seats are extremely empty.

This opinion is based on observing the finals at Ford Field. Typically, the schools that are the sole representative of their town / community bring the most fans. Smaller schools can have a big following because of the tight knit community.

NittanyFan

May 27th, 2016 at 9:17 AM ^

nobody is becoming a millionaire off of this event.  Reads like Clarkston HS and Lapeer HS are hosting the event,  so the monetary risk is on them, not U-M.  

But U-M and Ann Arbor should like this --- the out-of-region schools means some folk spending incremental $ on campus/in town.

The games won't be on ESPN either: nobody is going to say "look at all those empty seats, that reflects poorly on <<fill in the blank>>."

Seems like a good event for U-M to get behind: over time, it will likely draw the bigger names away from Wayne State's opening week event.

Blau

May 28th, 2016 at 6:55 AM ^

Attendance doesn't mean shit, especially if it's for championship games. Do you honestly think Ford Field is going to cancel their contract with the MHSAA because "not enough people showed up"?

I guess I'm just wondering how many people you need to come out to the Big House for it not to look empty for HS football? It's going to look scarce any way you slice it. I say let the kids play and don't worry about how many people are in attendance.

ElBictors

May 27th, 2016 at 1:25 AM ^

Being the last one to doubt the Freep or someone with 8 trillion MGoPoints, I have a coworker who says he played a HS football game at M Stadium. From IL - Chicago area - and says it's why he's a MICHIGAN fan

Not sure why he'd lie about that. Would have been late-80s/90 time

Perhaps his was an 'exhibition game' or all-star or some recruiting thing. I will have to ask him.

I know I saw two State HS titles won by TC at Silverdome. Lol.

ElBictors

May 27th, 2016 at 9:05 AM ^

I did read the article and is why I replied. Given the Freep's history and lack of integrity, I would not be surprised if they were wrong

Nice hedging language by the author as well ..."what are believed to be the first high school football games to be played at Michigan Stadium."

[lazy journalism]

And as I speculated, perhaps the factual distinction that should be made is if whether no HS games have ever been played at M Stadium vs ...this being the first 'event' with so many games ...first regular season games pitting MI high schools against one another.

There is absolutely no reason for my friend to lie about having played a HS game there. Clearly not in front of 100,000 or even a few thousand but he said he played a game there.

RedGreene

May 27th, 2016 at 3:49 AM ^

Chris Ash just announced High Point Solutions Stadium will host 8 midget league football games.